Veterans Day Post Office Hours: Is There Mail Delivery Friday? USPS, FedEx, UPS Open November 11?

Is the post office open on Veterans Day and will USPS, UPS, and FedEx deliver mail and packages on Friday, or is everything closed on November 11? Although many retail stores, including Walmart and Target — and even a few banks — will be open on the federal holiday, there always seems to be a bit of confusion over whether the U.S. Post Office and other package delivery companies will be open for business.

Veterans Day is one of 10 federal holidays in the United States and is always observed on November 11, and this year, it falls on a Friday, which means many federal employees have a three-day weekend to look forward to.

If you need to mail a letter or are waiting for a package to arrive, here’s the scoop on what to expect when it comes to Veterans Day mail and package deliveries from U.S. Postal Service, FedEx, and UPS.

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According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, most federal employees work on a Monday through Friday schedule. That means if the holiday falls on a weekday, most non-essential government personnel will get the day off, including the majority of postal workers and the person who delivers your mail.

The U.S. Postal Service will be closed on Friday, November 11, in observance of Veterans Day, and that means all post office branches will be closed. Mail won’t be delivered to businesses and residences on Friday but will resume on Saturday, November 12. Check with your local USPS branch office for Saturday hours if you need to check your post office box or mail a package.

Of course, you can always drop your mail or small package in a blue drop box found in various locations across the nation (use the USPS collection box finder here), but it won’t be on its way to its destination right away. According to the USPS, postal workers assigned to work on federal holidays may empty collection boxes “to avoid overflow conditions,” but mail won’t be processed through the postal system until the next business day.

Of note, the U.S. Postal Service delivers many packages to Amazon customers, and users posting on this thread of the Amazon forum state that some customers have received packages via the USPS on both Sundays and federal holidays, but it’s best to check with Amazon to find out when your package is due to be delivered.

What about the United Parcel Service (UPS) and Federal Express (FedEx)? Will these package delivery companies be out and about on Veterans Day?

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Both UPS and FedEx shut down on many federal holidays, but Veterans Day isn’t one of them. You’ll see white FedEx trucks and those familiar brown UPS trucks out and about on Friday, November 11 — drivers will be delivering package according to the normal weekday delivery schedule.

According to Federal Express, the company provides normal pickup and delivery service on four federal holidays: Veterans Day, Martin Luther King Day, and Presidents Day, and Columbus Day. Most FedEx offices will be open on these holidays as well.

United Parcel Service operates on a similar schedule and, according to the UPS holiday calendar, all packages will be delivered according to schedule on Friday, November 11. Most UPS stores will be open for business if you need to pick up a package that is on hold or ship one out.

The next holiday observed by the U.S. Postal Service is Thanksgiving, November 24. FedEx and UPS will also be closed on the holiday. There is no doubt that postal employees and those who work for FedEx and UPS will be resting up that day ahead of what will be yet another busy package delivery season.

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If you plan on shipping out gifts and/or Christmas cards this year, the USPS has already posted its shipping cutoff dates for the 2016 holiday season: Domestic first-class mail (cards and letters) needs to be postmarked by December 20 to guarantee Christmas delivery, and the cutoff date for packages shipped within the United States via Priority Mail is December 21.

According to UPS, the last day to ship 2nd Day Air packages to be delivered before Christmas Day is December 21. As far as FedEx goes, Packages that are shipped First Overnight, Priority Overnight, or FedEx 2Day will be delivered on Christmas Eve, December 24, but the deadline to ship your package out varies by zip code.